Morten at the Billboard Music Awards

Tonight Morten joined Pitbull and Christina Aguilera on stage to sing the classic refrain of ‘Take On Me’, which was added to the ‘Feel This Moment’ song arrangement especially for the Billboard Music Awards show!

Although his appearance was short, the audience responded with a lot of enthusiasm and many sang along to the familiar lines. The reaction online was full of excitement as well, with ‘a-ha’, ‘Take on Me’ and ‘Morten Harket’ trending worldwide alongside other BBMA artists.

You can watch a video of the performance here:

Following the performance, Morten was interviewed backstage. He was asked about the inspiration for ‘Take On Me’, what it’s like to have a song that has been covered and sampled so much, and which artists inspire him today.

Q: “How do you feel when some of the hotter stars of today want to reach back and make you be a part of it? Is that a good feeling?”

A: “Definitely, it’s a great feeling. It reflects on the way it was for us when we started out as well. We related to a lot of things we looked up to, and that’s how it goes, in cycles. But again, you pick up on young artists as well. I am in my 50s now and I can get a real kick out of very young artists doing great things.”

Morten was also interviewed for a longer time in the press room, and there is a clip available here: